Oh yes, I wrote that with an exclamation mark! I should use several !!!s, really. My brother Kal called me before 7am on a Saturday in January and asked if (A) I was home (obviously) and (B) if I wanted to make Babka with him that very day. (even more obviously….yes). How could I not bake with Kal, my brother from the same mother? We both cook and bake a lot and similarly we are fast, tidy and don’t feel the need to measure every little thing such as vanilla and salt. We just don’t. And we never hold back with any type of food! We eat exactly what we feel like at the moment.

We chatted back and forth about what time would work, (2:30 pm) whose kitchen would we use (mine), and then he sent the recipe he had made before with my daughter in their quest for the perfect Babka. They agreed that they liked the dough from an Epicurious article and the filling from Smitten Kitchen/Jerusalem cookbook. I offered to step it up a notch by using my good, bittersweet bulk chocolate and Scharffenberger cocoa. I happily reported that I had everything except enough butter. He was all over it.

The two of us each made a batch of Babka, or two loaves for each of us. I stood at the mixer, he brought me what I needed in the order it was required and in no time we had two large bowls of dough proofing in the oven. This first part was done and we had at least an 1 ½ hour hiatus. Kal went to his downtown dental office to do some work. I read my book and did two loads of laundry, and in between I measured out the filling ingredients.

When he returned, we combined the chocolate filling then rolled out the dough and filled it with chocolate. Even though I am a yeast goddess, Kal is at least on par if not better than me with baking. Naturally we used my silicone pastry mat, which I highly recommend for this recipe. Into the freezer for a half hour went the rolls, and when it was time he gave me a demo of how to cut and form the loaves.

At this point he left for home, unbaked loaves in hand. I covered my pans with a damp tea towel for two hours and was surprised the Babka didn’t rise like bread but whatever. Into the oven they went to bake and let me tell you, my building smelled fantastic. After taking the loaves out of the oven, I immediately brushed them with the simple syrup I made. It seemed like a lot but a couple authors kept saying to use up all the syrup, so I did And it turned out to be just what was needed. One of the condo owners came by to sniff around, literally. Kal, meanwhile, was doing the same thing at his house. I sent pictures of mine, he sent pictures of his and they look like Babka relatives.

Kal’s Babka (note cookie – which he baked at the same time, of course!)

I’m saving a loaf for when my cousins from California stay with us The other Babka will be enjoyed and eaten pronto.

Start to finish, it’s not a lot of prep time but obviously there is a lot of down time, so make this on a day you have several hours. We started making dough at 2:30 and I wrapped the Babka for the freezer at around 9 pm. Yet during the first rising I went on a long walk, during the second two hours I kept busy and now I am “kvelling” over my baking prowess.

Along the way, I coveted Kal’s heavy metal bread pans, decided I did not love my cheapo aluminum ones and ordered myself two spanking new bread pans.

It is the most complicated recipe I’ve made in a while. And yes, it took most of a day. But I was lucky enough to do it with someone I love – the time flew by. And all I can say is Oh Em Gee. MAKE THIS.

Chocolate Babka

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients for Dough (from Epicurious)

¾ cup lukewarm whole or 2% milk (105–115°F)

2 tsp sugar

1 Tbsp active dry yeast

3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting – divided

2 whole large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

¾ tsp salt

1 ¼ sticks (10 Tbsp) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened

Dough Instructions

Stir together warm milk and 2 teaspoons sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast doesn’t foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)

Add 1/2 cup flour to yeast mixture and beat at medium speed until combined. Add whole eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low, then mix in remaining 2 3/4 cups flour, about 1/2 cup at a time. Increase speed to medium, then beat in butter, a few pieces at a time, and continue to beat until dough is shiny and forms strands from paddle to bowl, about 4 minutes. (Dough will be very soft and sticky.)

Scrape dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Filling Instructions

Melt butter and chocolate together until smooth. Stir in powdered sugar and cocoa; add cinnamon, if desired. This forms a paste that is easy to spread with an offset spatula.

Assembly Instructions from Jerusalem Cookbook

Coat two 9-by-4-inch loaf pans with oil or butter, and cut parchment paper to line the bottom of each pan. Respray the top of this parchment once it is in the pan. Take half of dough from fridge (leave the other half chilled). Roll out on a well-floured counter or pastry silicone mat to about a 14-inch width (the side closest to you) and 10 inch length. I was generous with flour since the loaves were sticky, but the dough is great to work with and it doesn’t break or crumble at all.

Spread half of chocolate mixture evenly over the dough with an offset spatula, leaving a tiny ½-inch border. Brush one of the long edges with water, and roll the dough up with the filling into a long, tight cigar. The water brushed side can now be pinched shut a bit. I found that transferring each log to a lightly floured baking tray in the freezer for 30 minutes made it much easier to cut cleanly in half later on. Repeat with second dough, transfer to the baking tray also for 30 minutes in the freezer.

To form the Babkas, remove the sheet containing the rolls from the freezer and transfer the parchment paper with the cold babka logs to the floured counter or mat and cut the last ½-inch off each end of log. Gently cut the log in half lengthwise and lay the two next to each other on the floured counter, cut sides up. Pinch the top ends gently together. Gently and loosely lift one side over the next, forming a twist and trying to keep the cut sides facing up. Then transfer the twisted log gently into the prepared loaf pan. It doesn’t matter if the loaf is “squigly”. You can place the trimmed ends of the log in the opening spaces available. No worries, the dough will fill in these gaps. Repeat this process with the next loaf.

This is how it’s done!

Cover both pans with a damp tea towel and leave to rise another two hours at room temperature.

Baking and Finishing Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F with the baking rack mid oven about 15 minutes before the two hours is up. At the end of two hours, remove damp towels covering the loaves and place both pans on the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Mine cooked 27 minutes and might have been done in 25 min, but who knows? When ready to take from the oven, a toothpick will slide in easily and come out clean. If your babka needs more time, put it back, five minutes at a time then re-test.

Ten minutes before the loaves are finished baking, make the sugar syrup: Bring sugar and water to a simmer until sugar totally dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside to cool somewhat. As soon as the Babkas are done, brush the syrup all over the top of each loaf.

Use all the syrup. It will seem like excessive sugar syrup but will taste just right — glossy and moist. After ten minutes, shake the pans gently to be sure the sides are not sticking to the pan surface. Let cool 30 minutes in the pans – this is important because the yeast dough is springy and soft and fragile but not bad to handle after 30 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way before eating .

Do ahead: Babkas keep for a few days at room temperature. Or you can cool them absolutely completely, wrap in saran and heavy foil and freeze them for up to two months.

Have you ever been in a non-cooking mood when it is winter and dark outside? I have, and this soup not only fits the bill on a cold night, but it is something that comes together in about 20 minutes. Kid friendly, adult friendly, vegetarian friendly…what more can one ask for? I have no idea where this recipe originated, but it’s been in my files for at least 10 years. And it’s a keeper! Double all the ingredients for a crowd.

Vegetable Cheddar Soup

Serves 5

Ingredients

½ cup diced celery

½ cup diced carrots

1 cup cubed potatoes (½ inch pieces)

1 cup cauliflowerettes, chopped into ½ inch pieces

½ cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

¼ onion, diced

1 cup water

¼ cup (½ stick) butter

¼ cup all-purpose flour

3 cups (2 %) milk (heated in microwave 2 ½ minutes)

4 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

Salt to taste (I added very, very little)

Ground white pepper to taste (Black pepper works too but the flecks will show against the white background of the soup)

Instructions

In a large 4-quart saucepan, boil celery, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, corn and onion in one cup of water, covered, 5-10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Set aside, do not drain but pour everything into a bowl.

Melt butter in the same saucepan that is now empty from steaming the vegetables. Slowly whisk in flour, cooking for one to two minutes. Remove from heat and slowly stir in the preheated milk. Put back on medium heat and cook until it thickens and add the cheddar cheese. Stir until melted.

Return the vegetable/water mix to this pot (with the heated milk/butter/flour) and cook very briefly. Add salt and pepper to taste to this mixture.

Serve with a crusty bread and a salad. Enjoy!

NOTE: This would be good with chunks of leftover salmon or halibut added to make a seafood chowder of sorts.

I’ve made it a tradition to double the amounts and gift a little of this to my neighbors.

I’ve been on a baking binge this winter. It’s unseasonably cold, snowy at times, rainy at others, dark…so to occupy myself indoors I’ve been baking up a storm. Each week I glance at many different food sites on the internet, saving recipes that sound appealing. These muffins began as such: a fairly straightforward pumpkin muffin, jazzed up with warming spices and sweetened with brown sugar and honey.

These muffins made me think of Asher, my 5 ½ year old grandson who is picky picky. He detests eggs and won’t even walk into the room if he smells them cooking. He does not like certain textures – ie mashed potatoes. Since I don’t have to feed him every day, I find this all a bit amusing. And I have a sixth sense about what will please him. Chicken soup with matzo balls? Yes. Ricotta Lemon cookies? Uh huh. Tofu? Certainly. Noodles of any kind? You know it. Sushi and pho? Always. And I will bet the farm that he will love these pumpkin muffins too.

Asher!

This time I read a few reviews from readers who actually made the original recipe that was posted in the New York Times. Some thought they might be a bit bland, others found them too sweet, some said the batter made more like 18 muffins than a dozen. After reading all of this – I devised a game plan. I used half the amount of brown sugar and switched to dark brown sugar since that is what I had on had. I used half the amount of maple syrup, added in kefir to replace liquid and give them a little tang (actually I had no buttermilk but I did have kefir), I didn’t use turmeric because I didn’t have any on hand. I ended up making 12 large, overflowing muffins but I’d do that all again. And I added the zest of a lemon along with a drizzle of lemon glaze after they cooled. One thing I love is that I made these using just a whisk and spatula, not an electric mixer of any kind!

I am 100% happy with the outcome. My hubby had some with his morning coffee and ooooed and ahhhhed, something he doesn’t always do (he’s spoiled). And because pumpkin and squash remind me of fall, I’m thinking ahead to Thanksgiving with the family and planning to bring these for breakfast or just for snacks. That is, if Asher approves!

Drizzle Ingredients if you wish

⅓ cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the center.

Spray muffin tin (12 muffins) with nonstick spray or line them with paper liners.

Brown the butter by heating it in a small metal saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, until the butter has melted, foamed and started to brown, about five minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together each type of flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.

Divide evenly among 12 prepared muffin molds (very very full to top or even a little beyond the top). Bake until the tops are puffed and spring back slightly when pressed, about 25 minutes. Test with a toothpick then remove from the oven. After about 10 minutes, gently loosen each muffin and place it back in the tin but on it’s side.

Cooling on their sides.

IF YOU WANT TO DO A GLAZE: Once totally cooled, re-center the muffins the same as how you baked them. Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until the consistency of glue. Drizzle about a teaspoon on top of each muffin and let harden.

These keep a couple of days covered at room temperature, or frozen for up to three months.

I am thinking if you aren’t into glazes, it might be nice to sprinkle a bit of turbinado sugar on top of each muffin instead.

As I type this out I wonder if you’re thinking I’ve lost my mind. Perhaps you’re asking yourself, “What? Again?? Why is this lunatic posting yet another cauliflower recipe? Is it not enough to have whole roasted cauliflower, cauliflower pomegranate salad, and four other posts to date?”

The answer, in short, is no. I will never have enough ways to prepare cauliflower. I love the recipes already posted as well as just plain old oven blasted cauliflower, but I kicked it up a notch this summer while in Central America. This recipe has what I need in super hot weather: salt from capers, tang from lime, and a good mouth feel. Something to keep on hand for when the sun comes out again, or even in winter if you get tired of the same old, same old.

Instructions

Toss cauliflower that you have broken or cut into approximately 1 x 1 inch pieces with olive oil, salt and pepper and place it on a foil or parchment lined rimmed cookie sheet.

Roast 20 minutes and watch it along the way. (I used my toaster oven, so if you are using a conventional oven keep checking-it could take longer). If it is pretty brown after 20 minutes, remove from oven and stir and then add in slivered garlic and continue roasting another five minutes until tender and golden brown. Take it out of the oven, scrape the cauliflower into a serving bowl and combine with the lime juice and zest, capers, and parsley or cilantro leaves.

Serve warm or room temperature. It should make enough to feed four people but PSSSSST…. I have been known to eat this entire batch single handedly. Don’t judge. I love this.

I returned to Seattle in the middle of September and immediately signed myself up for a cooking lesson at Book Larder on how to butcher whole fish. What really intrigued me about this particular class was the advertised side vegetable dish and the peach dessert. I have taken at least two other classes from the instructor, Kyle Wisner, and I love that he cooks without exact recipes. Like me, he doesn’t really include measurements so what I have for you are estimates I made from eyeballing the ingredients as he cooked.

Perfect Pepita Pesto

Don’t worry, I am really accurate with my estimates and have even gone back and measured things after I guesstimate, and I’m happy to say that I am very very close. One of my hidden talents, I guess.

Pepita Pesto

Yields ~3 Cups

Ingredients

1 large size shallot, peeled and cut in half

1 large clove of garlic, peeled

Kosher salt to taste (start with ½ tsp)

Zest of 1 lemont (my addition)

Juice of 2 regular-sized lemons (use extra if lemons are smallish)

2 cups roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1 handful of parsley with stems (wash, dry and roughly cut in thirds)

1 handful of cilantro with stems (wash, dry and roughly cut in thirds)

Approximately 1 cup olive oil

Approximately 2 Tbsp water

Instructions

Roast the pepitas by placing them in a 350 degree toaster oven for ten minutes. They’re ready when they start smelling fragrant and turn light brown so watch them so they don’t burn. Cool before making the pesto. This can be done a few days before!

Place shallot, garlic, salt, zest and lemon juice in the bowl of food processor and pulse to break them up.

Add toasted pumpkin seeds, parsley, cilantro and run the machine, drizzling in the olive oil to desired consistency. Add water if you want to thin it out a bit.

Taste and add more salt and lemon juice to taste (I added more salt and another juiced lemon).

In our class, we tossed this with roasted tomatillos, corn and zucchini! It was the end of summer, after all. I have since coated other oven roasted winter veggies with the pesto–roasted new potatoes, cauliflower, even carrots.

This can be used as a spread if it is pretty thick – or put on veggie sandwiches, as a spread for bruschetta or thinned out with more oil or water to use as a salad dressing or to marinate meat or present as a vegetable dip..

You could switch up the flavors by changing out the herbs – for example if you don’t like cilantro you could substitute something else like that is fresh such as basil or thyme.

Swap out the pumpkin seeds for any kind of toasted nut or toasted sunflower seeds.

I’ll admit it – I have been holding out on you. But I figured it was finally time to let you in on the easiest, tastiest, and bestest condiment out there: lime-infused Burmuda onions.

I make these onions often when I do my weekly “mise en place” preparation…along with toasted nuts, toasted seeds, homemade croutons…doing a lot ahead of time is what makes meal prep quick and easy for me. I’m not a raw onion lover, ever. These still maintain their crunch but lose the bitter onion flavor as the lime juice removes the harsh aftertaste.

Such Simple Ingredients

So here is the deal…I have embraced this way of pickling red onions because they are delicious, prep is simple and the onions stay crunchy. But too – there’s the color. They transform from a gorgeous, deep purple to a beautiful, bright magenta. And when you pile these on a sandwich (My favorite is hummus and arugula) , on any kind of burger, on fish or chicken or meat, as a finish for rice or grains, in an omelette…suddenly the colors pop and whatever you are serving looks much, much more appealing. Summer, fall, winter or spring…there is nothing like these onions!

These literally take five minutes to prepare, so there is no reason not to try them.

Lime-Infused Bermuda Onions

Ingredients

Instructions

Put all the ingredients into a glass jar or glass container with a lid and stir together. Leave at room temperature for an hour , stirring every 15 minutes. The onions will shrink in volume and produce juice.

After an hour, cover well and keep in the refrigerator. Use these as often as you can and make them again and again. Mine keep well for up to a week or even a bit more.

While my husband was still in Central America, our soon-to-be eight year old grandson and his 5 ½ year old brother spent the night with me in Seattle. Both had been a bit out of sorts as they were moving to a different house in a different neighborhood and thus would be switching schools and leaving old friends behind. Their dad was gone for the weekend in Montreal…there was a new au pair at their house…And then there was the election…..

And so, I figured a sleep-away at Grandma’s was the cure for tired and anxious little boys. My goal was to have them relax, not be required to ” hurry up” or be pressured by time, and to do what they wanted at my house. Pretty simple.

They were both exhausted when I went to their house on Saturday, but we rallied and went out for Chinese food with Uncle Jakey Boy whose wife (!) was in the middle of a 30-hour shift at the hospital. The boys didn’t eat much and yawned their way through dinner. Next, we drove to my place and immediately they brushed their teeth, put on PJ’s and watched a short age appropriate TV program. A half hour later, they virtually begged to go to bed. NOT usual behavior. We agreed that they needed sleep and shouldn’t come out of the bedroom until eight in the morning. Zay had my glow-in-the-dark wrist watch and can tell time.

Sunday morning at 6:30 AM, Zay sneaked into my room. I gave him the choice of reading or resting in my bed, and he chose reading…as always. I got my book too and both of us propped ourselves up with pillows, covered up with the down comforter and read for over an hour. Little brother Asher actually slept until eight and then joined us to snuggle for a bit. The boys then had a leisurely shower and used my grown up shampoo and hair conditioner.

Next I asked the boys to come to a consensus as to what they wanted for breakfast. Choices were any variety of pancakes, waffles, eggs (Asher hates eggs), oatmeal with the fixings, granola with the fixings, or another doable option. After a lot of discussion, they chose waffles “with chocolate chips and bananas and whipped cream.” I did not have cream so offered plain, full fat yogurt and they said YES.

I used my pancake/waffle recipe (cut in half since it was just the three of us). Zay is in second grade and did an awesome job figuring out how to compute half of the recipe. Half of two cups is one cup, half of a teaspoon is a half teaspoon, etc. And he learned how to make buttermilk using milk and vinegar and mixed and poured himself. The kid is going to be a cook, I swear.

We discussed how putting the chunks of bittersweet chocolate in the batter would be a problem in the waffle iron and could cause sticking. Zay came up with the idea of making a regular waffle, then placing chocolate pieces and banana slices on half the waffle, folding it in half and re-grilling it for 30 seconds until the chocolate melted. Genius.

Almost Ready…

KA POW. The boys named this “Waffle omelette” and the results tasted great. Most important it was a fun experience for both the boys and for me. And my daughter and granddaughter who stayed at their home got more sleep, unpacked and enjoyed a quieter house.

I subbed one cup of 2% milk plus one tablespoon of white vinegar to create the cup of buttermilk. Let is sit at room temperature for about ten minutes until it starts to curdle, then it is ready.

On each of the six waffles I made with half the recipe, I used about eight pieces of chocolate chunks and five or six half-moons of banana. Then I stirred some maple syrup into the plain yogurt to replace the whipping cream.

Our extended family loves cranberries in most forms. And Thanksgiving? We often end up with four or five varieties: Traditional cooked berries, Tim’s weird (sorry Tim) spiced cranberries, one of my sister’s latest, greatest recently published non-traditional versions and Kal’s cranberries.

My kids love the old school cranberries I make — the one on the package of fresh cranberries… basically sugar, orange juice, water and berries. Easy and always good.

Thanksgiving 2016 Art Project

But the grandkids? They go bonkers for Great Uncle Kal’s cranberries, and we make them throughout the winter while cranberries are fresh. Nothing could be easier, and the red mashed up stuff looks pretty alongside poultry, fish meat or vegetarian dishes.

When my youngest son Jakey Boy was approaching his thirtieth birthday, he found a recipe for cranberry tart in the New York Times. He cut it out and brought it to me, asking what I thought of it. Now, you may not know Jakey Boy, but he is not a dessert person by any stretch of the imagination. This has nothing to do with health reasons or dietary restrictions – quite the opposite since Jakey Boy is on the skinny side. He just prefers savory foods, even more than I do. In this instance, I believe the tartness of cranberry appealed to him.

He also showed the recipe to my brother. Uncle Kal bakes way more than I do, believe it or not. And Uncle Kal said this was way too much work to make.

So what is a mother to do? Of course I couldn’t help myself, chirping, “Let me make this for your 30th birthday!”

And so it came to pass that my version of cranberry tart was produced, eaten and oooooed and ahhhhd over for Jake’s 30th-birthday-celebration-family-dinner. Everyone agreed it was wonderful. I did change the recipe a bit – I couldn’t help myself. The result? A bright magenta-colored tart bursting with flavor. Frankly, it wasn’t that hard to make. A lot of steps, but very doable as long as you plan ahead.

Curd & Crust

I’ll be making this again – maybe for Thanksgiving. For you folks who celebrate Christmas, this would be a beautiful dessert.

Instructions

In a food processor, grind pecans (I did not toast them first) with half the rice flour until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Add remaining rice flour and salt and pulse briefly.

Cream the sugar and butter in a mixing bowl by hand with a wooden spoon for a minute or two until pale and thick. Add nut mixture and combine until dough comes together. If it seems crumbly, add a little cold water. (Mine did not need more water but I used more butter than the original recipe.)

Press the dough evenly into a 9-inch pie plate or pie dish. Use half the dough for the sides and half for the bottom. Prick the crust all over with the tines of a fork and freeze the crust for 30 minutes (or several days if desired).

Put cranberries, sugar and orange juice and peel in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer without covering until cranberries have popped and softened, about 10 minutes. Turn down to barely simmering for five minutes and don’t stir. Transfer to a medium mesh sieve and press cooking liquid into a bowl. This took me about 15 minutes of pressing on the back of a spoon against the strainer, then scraping the pulp from the back of the strainer into the bowl. Over and over and over. Whisk the butter into the warm liquid.

Put eggs and egg yolks into a bowl and beat lightly. Slowly whisk a cup of warm cranberry liquid into the eggs to temper them, then combine both egg mix and the rest of the cranberry liquid and whisk together. Wipe out the original cranberry cooking pot if necessary, return liquid (about 2 cups) to the sauce pan and cook over low heat until nearly bubbling and thickened, about 10 minutes. If using immediately, let cool to room temperature. If working ahead, cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap (press wrap against curd) and refrigerate. (Curd may be cooked up to one day ahead.)

Pour cooled cranberry curd into the cooled, prebaked tart shell and smooth the top with a spatula. It’s thick so it won’t be that smooth but baking helps. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes to set the curd. Cool on a rack. Store at room temperature for up to two days.

Serve with soft whipped cream and mint leaves or lemon curls.

Cook’s notes:

The ratio of crust to filling is 1 to 1, half crust and half filling. I might want to make one and a half times the filling next go around….we’ll see. If I made this in a real tart pan, no way would there have been enough cranberry filling!

Personally I wouldn’t do the final baking step until the day I was going to serve the dessert so the crust doesn’t become soggy.

If any of you were born in the mid 1900’s (THAT sounds old!) you will absolutely know what tuna noodle casserole is. This comfort food graced every table in my youth in some form – usually that of canned tuna (not line caught, not wild), elbow macaroni or thin egg noodles (certainly not penne made from fine Semonlina flour) and cream of mushroom soup (from a can, naturally). School cafeterias served this, some called this “end of paycheck casserole” and it was kind of a go-to meal for many families. Oh, and some lucky kids had it served with crumbled potato chips on top!

At my house, my mom must have prepared this from time to time. For sure it was an option for hot school lunches. Believe it or not, I sometimes get a hankering for the taste of mushrooms, tuna and noodles. But I’m happy to report that today, I have what I believe is a much better version. I even tried it out on my grandkids when they were in town. The verdict? Huge hit! Of course.

Basically, this is an easy dinner with leftovers to boot. You make a white sauce, stir in sauteed veggies and spices, then fold this into cooked bowtie pasta along with high quality canned tuna and frozen peas. Crispy panko crumbs (available in most grocery stores in the Asian section) which have been sauteed in butter are added as topping during the final part of baking. Oh, and because my grandsons pick cooked mushrooms out of foods, my daughter had the brilliant idea for me to put the mushrooms in my Nutribullet and chop them to almost a mushroom paste. In other words, you end up with a mushroom taste without the visual look and texture of mushrooms. In other, other words, the perfect way to fool your kids (or adult sons, not that I am naming names…Daniel) who THINK they don’t like mushrooms.

Not Your Grandma’s Tuna Noodle Casserole

Serves 6-8 (at least)

Ingredients:

2 cups 2% milk (heat in microwave or saucepan until hot)

8 oz bowtie pasta-egg noodles or whole wheat if you can find them

1 stick salted butter

½ large onion, finely diced

2 stalks celery, finely diced

⅓ c red or orange or yellow bell pepper, finely diced

2 cups sliced brown mushrooms (If you have kids, put these in the food processor or nutribullet so they become mushroom mush and are not identifiable as mushrooms.)

¼ cup unbleached flour

1 ½ cups frozen peas

3-5 ounce cans of water packed tuna – drained (15 ounces total)

½ tsp dried dill or 1 ½ tsp fresh chopped dill

1 tsp salt

20 grinds black pepper

1 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko which was crunchy and good)

1 ½ Tbsp butter (for breadcrumbs)

Instructions:

Butter or oil a 9 x 13 pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 with the rack in the middle.

Start a large pot of water to boil the pasta – add a half a teaspoon salt. When it is boiling, add bow tie noodles and cook until al dente but not totally soft. Drain well.

Meanwhile, (noodles can be cooking away) melt butter and sauté the diced onion, celery, pepper and mushrooms or mushroom moosh. When everything is soft, sprinkle with flour. Stir and cook about three minutes. Continue stirring then add heated milk slowly until it makes a thick sauce. Cook another minute. Turn off the heat and add the dill, drained tuna, and frozen peas, salt and pepper Stir to combine and taste to see whether you might need additional salt or pepper.

Scrape everything into the prepared baking pan and bake uncovered at 350 for 20 minutes.

While the tuna casserole is baking, heat the 1 ½ Tbsp of butter in a small fry pan on medium heat, add panko crumbs and stir until they get a little brown. Remove from the heat.

After 20 minutes pass, remove the baking pan from the oven and top with browned panko crumbs and bake an additional ten minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, let it rest about ten minutes and serve with a nice fresh fruit salad and green salad.

Leftovers reheat well!

Cook’s note: this is also good if you prefer leftover or canned salmon or even cubed chicken/turkey in lieu of tuna.